Siena poll: Voters like Hochul’s congestion pricing pause but dislike Hochul
The survey found 45 percent of voters support her suspension of the plan, compared to 23 percent against it.
TroibNews 
ALBANY, New York — A solid plurality of voters approve of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to pause the implementation of congestion pricing, a Siena College Research Institute poll released Thursday morning found.
But that doesn’t make them any more favorable to the Democratic governor, whose approval numbers fell slightly from the last Siena poll, to a record low.
A total of 45 percent of registered New York voters told pollsters they support the tolling plan's indefinite delay, while 23 percent said they oppose it. Another 16 percent reported being somewhere in the middle on the subject, and 17 percent didn’t offer an opinion.
Progressives, environmentalists and business leaders have criticized Hochul's abrupt shift on the Manhattan traffic plan as a blow to mass transit funding and a setback for reducing air pollution. Yet none of the actual voters surveyed across 26 demographic categories provided by Siena opposed her move.
“There’s little partisan difference when it comes to Hochul’s end-of-session surprise decision to put congestion pricing on hold,” Siena spokesperson Steve Greenberg said in a statement. “It is supported by 46 percent of Democrats, 45 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of independents, all large pluralities.”
Regional support for the pause was strongest in the suburbs, where 56 percent of voters backed it, compared to 18 percent who came out against it. Those in New York City approved of her move by a 45-30 split and 35 percent of respondents upstate, who would be impacted less frequently by the toll, supported the governor's decision compared to 19 percent who opposed it.
Yet Hochul’s numbers, which have been lukewarm for over a year, slid to record lows. Only 38 percent of voters viewed her favorably in June while 49 percent viewed her unfavorably, down from 38-46 in May's Siena poll. And while Democrats angry over her congestion pricing move are mulling a primary challenge when she is up for reelection in 2026, she remains popular with 56 percent of voters in her party, the survey found.
Thirty-four percent of respondents who said Hochul “cares about people like you” (down from 45 percent), 42 percent said she “works hard for the people of New York" (down from 47 percent), and 33 percent said she “effectively collaborates with other government leaders” (down from 40 percent).
Hochul is not the only Democrat with problems in New York. President Joe Biden continued to poll poorly for a presumptive Democratic nominee in the solidly blue state, with a favorability rating of 42-53 that was driven by deep unpopularity among Republicans. His lead over Donald Trump remained relatively narrow — a 47-39 advantage compared to his 23-point victory in the state in 2020.
Voters strongly approved the Hochul-backed bill to regulate social media that passed at the end of this year’s legislative session, with seven in 10 supporting it and only 12 percent opposed.
And they supported the Equal Rights Amendment due to be on the ballot this November by a 59-27 split, essentially unchanged from the 59-26 it received in May.
Siena spoke to 805 registered voters over four days between June 12 and 17, and the numbers have a margin of error of 4.1 points.
